Basic trainees carry legacy of Vietnam vets

ARNEWS ^ | Jul 12, 2006 | Bridgett Siter

[SandRat]

FORT BENNING, Ga. (Army News Service, July 12, 2006) – Pvt. Jay Grassel believes he has a lot in common with Pfc. James Murphy. Both Pittsburgh natives joined the Army at 19, fresh out of high school. Both were assigned to 1st Battalion, 50th Infantry Regiment.

When the going gets tough, Grassel looks to Murphy for inspiration.

But Murphy doesn't know it. He was killed by small arms fire 44 days after arriving in Vietnam nearly 40 years ago.

"He knew he was going to war when he enlisted. I enlisted knowing I’ll go to war," said Grassel, who's training with the 1st Bn., 50th Inf. Regt.'s C Company on Sand Hill. "I've had some hard times here, when I want to go home. That's when he gives me strength."

Grassel carries in his breast pocket an index card, tucked inside a zip-lock plastic bag, with Murphy's name on it. The Legacy Card bears Murphy's birth date, hometown, date of enlistment, where and with what unit he served, the date and cause of his death, and where his name can be found on the Vietnam Wall. Grassel knows every word by heart.

All 200 of his C Company comrades and the cadre carry similar cards, each inscribed with the name of a Soldier from the 1st Bn., 50th Inf. Regt., killed in combat in Vietnam. They were given the cards after the third week of basic training, after the "total control phase," when the drill sergeants began teaching them the Army values.

The Soldiers will carry the Legacy Cards, which reinforce the value of honor, until they're given their crossed rifle pins in a ceremony on Honor Hill in their 13th week of basic training, just days before their Aug. 25 graduation. Then they'll lay their cards at the foot of the 1st Bn., 50th Inf. Regt., memorial outside their headquarters building.

"To some of these kids, the Vietnam War is about as foreign as the Civil War. I tell them wars are fought not by guys my age, but kids their age, just like them. That makes it real to them,” Robinson said. “They need to know the history of the unit and carry on that legacy."

Since the company began distributing the cards three cycles ago, the attrition rate has declined drastically, Robinson said, though he wouldn't commit to hard figures. But he knows the cards are making an impact on the unit and the individual Soldiers.

At the end of each cycle, Robinson sorts through the cards to see which ones are worn and need replacing. Occasionally, he said, he'll find one that's been improvised.

"They're supposed to keep it on them at all times and never lose it. But I've seen where they'll write it verbatim on a part of an MRE box because the first one got lost or damaged," he said. "That tells me they've taken it to heart."

(Editor’s note: Bridgett Siter writes for The Bayonet at Fort Benning, Ga.)

[ops33]

It is an unbroken line, filled with honor and sacrifice, that goes all the way back to the Revolution.

[VOA]

"To some of these kids, the Vietnam War is about as foreign as the Civil War.

Thanks to the poor quality of high school history classes.
And I'll back that up with my expert witness, David McCullough:

"We are raising a generation of young Americans who are by-and-large historically
illiterate. And it’s not their fault. There have been innumerable studies,
and there’s no denying it. I’ve experienced it myself again and again.
I had a young woman come up to me after a talk one morning at the University of
Missouri to tell me that she was glad she came to hear me speak, and I said
I was pleased she had shown up. She said, “Yes, I’m very pleased, because
until now I never understood that all of the 13 colonies – the original
13 colonies – were on the east coast.”

Now you hear that and you think: What in the world have we done? How could
this young lady, this wonderful young American, become a student at a fine
university and not know that?

I taught a seminar at Dartmouth of seniors majoring in history, honor
students, 25 of them. The first morning we sat down and I said, “How many
of you know who George Marshall was?” Not one. There was a long silence and
finally one young man asked, “Did he have, maybe, something to do
with the Marshall Plan?” And I said yes, he certainly did, and that’s a good
place to begin talking about George Marshall. "

Find under the heading "Our Failur, Our Duty" at:
http://www.hillsdale.edu/imprimis/2005/April/